Global Casino Champ in the House

Back in September, the 2019/20 World Series of Poker Circuit Season – one that had been interrupted by the pandemic – came to an end with the annual Global Casino Championship, which for the first time was held online at WSOP.com.

Players qualified for the $1 million guaranteed tournament by either winning a WSOPC stop Main Event or finishing as Casino Champ. In addition, any player that won a ring during the season or finished in the top 100 of last year’s WSOP Player of the Year race had the option to buy-in directly for $10,000. Seven players opted to do just that meaning the total field stood at 130 players with a $1,070,000 prize pool up for grabs.

After 11 hours of play, three-time ring winner AJ "RandyLerch" Kelsall, who is in action today in the MSPT Venetian, emerged victorious to capture a $275,632 first-place prize and his first gold bracelet. Kelsall won his first ring back in 2015 and added two more this past season. He qualified for the Global Casino Championship as an at-large points qualifier after finishing fourth on the leaderboard with 332.5 points from 30 cashes totaling $214,326 in winnings.

Prior to the win, Kelsall had just over $1 million in lifetime WSOP-related earnings. His best live score was $124,731 for winning the 2014 Winter Poker Open at Seminole Hard Rock Tampa Bay.

As for the MSPT, Kelsall is seeking his first cash on the tour.

For more on Kelsall, check out his appearance on the PokerNews Podcast here.